Jean Piaget got what develops in children, right most of the time, but did he get when it develops, right? Piaget was a biologist who was particularly interested in knowledge (epistemology). He viewed intelligence as a mechanism of adaptation and argued that children’s cognitive development is based on the ability to adapt to the environment through accommodation or assimilation processes (Piaget, 1952). Assimilation uses existing schemas to interpret new experiences, while accommodation modifies existing schemas or create new schemas to fit reality. Piaget’s theory consists of four stages, which he proposed, occur in fixed sequence and are never skipped. The stages are sensorimotor (0 to 2 years), preoperational (2 to 7 years), concrete operational
…show more content…
Studies have shown that object permanence occurs earlier, as young as three and a half months old. For example, Baillargeon (1987) study tested the presence of object permanence in 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. Infants were first habituated to a screen that rotated 180° back and forth, like a drawbridge, with no object. Infants were then subjected to two types of test trial, one had a box placed behind a screen which was rotated by 120° up to occluded box (possible event) and the other had a box placed behind a screen which was rotated by 180°, appearing to pass through the box as if it was no longer behind it (impossible event). Results showed that infants gazed significantly longer at the impossible test trial than possible, indicating they understood that the screen would not be able to rotate through a space occupied by an occluded box, hence they understood the box’s properties. It also showed that infants understood the box continued to exist even though it was blocked by the screen. Thus, showing object permanence is present in early infancy which contradicts Piaget’s theory. However, Bogartz, Shinskey, and Schilling (2000) argued that infants did not use the impossibility or possibility of events but their familiarity preference. This means, infants’ familiarity to the habituation event (of 180° …show more content…
Courage and Howe (2002) defined deferred imitation as an ability to replicate a previously witnessed action without using current perceptual support to reproduce the action. Therefore, this means the child can repeat the same act after a delay of witnessing it, instead of copying what is currently occurring. Piaget believed that children develop deferred imitation between 16 and 24 months. His theory suggested that children of only this age would have mature mental representation to be able to imitate an act after a delay because they can encode an internal representation of the
Studies have shown that object permanence occurs earlier, as young as three and a half months old. For example, Baillargeon (1987) study tested the presence of object permanence in 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds. Infants were first habituated to a screen that rotated 180° back and forth, like a drawbridge, with no object. Infants were then subjected to two types of test trial, one had a box placed behind a screen which was rotated by 120° up to occluded box (possible event) and the other had a box placed behind a screen which was rotated by 180°, appearing to pass through the box as if it was no longer behind it (impossible event). Results showed that infants gazed significantly longer at the impossible test trial than possible, indicating they understood that the screen would not be able to rotate through a space occupied by an occluded box, hence they understood the box’s properties. It also showed that infants understood the box continued to exist even though it was blocked by the screen. Thus, showing object permanence is present in early infancy which contradicts Piaget’s theory. However, Bogartz, Shinskey, and Schilling (2000) argued that infants did not use the impossibility or possibility of events but their familiarity preference. This means, infants’ familiarity to the habituation event (of 180° …show more content…
Courage and Howe (2002) defined deferred imitation as an ability to replicate a previously witnessed action without using current perceptual support to reproduce the action. Therefore, this means the child can repeat the same act after a delay of witnessing it, instead of copying what is currently occurring. Piaget believed that children develop deferred imitation between 16 and 24 months. His theory suggested that children of only this age would have mature mental representation to be able to imitate an act after a delay because they can encode an internal representation of the